AftermAth
by Violet Rose of Darkness
Summary: The Liars try to come to terms with what happened in the Dollhouse. Spoby, Haleb, Ezria, and Emison (can be viewed as friendship or romance).


**This is just something that came to me when a re-watched the Liars in the Dollhouse. Please enjoy!**

OoOoOo

 **Spencer**

She gazed blankly at the bright TV screen through the darkness. Her mother had already fallen asleep next to her, leaving Spencer to herself. She sighed and rubbed tiredly at her burning eyes. She knew her mother was only doing what she thought was best by avoiding the pills and she couldn't disagree with that logic. Still, she couldn't help but growl in irritation and envy at the thought of her friends having peaceful, dreamless slumbers while she was forced to stay awake.

She immediately berated herself for such thoughts. It wasn't her friends' faults that she was the only one with an addiction problem. And as much as she'd like to blame them, it wasn't her parents or Melissa's fault either. No, it was all hers. It was her jealousy of her sister and her longing for her parents' attention that drove her to such acts.

Spencer shook her head and hauled herself up, not wanting to stay down here and aimlessly stare at the TV any longer. She wanted to sleep and the device was doing nothing but keeping her up. She tried to retreat to her room to see if she could sleep better there, but immediately recoiled away from the door as soon as she caught sight of it.

 _As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was blood. Blood everywhere; splattered on the floor, caked onto her clothes and skin, and drenched in her hair. Fear crept up her throat and her heartrate sped up. What had happened? Whose blood was this? **Who had she hurt?**_

"Spencer?"

Spencer was brought out of her daze as she turned to see her older sister standing there. "Melissa," she breathed out in slight shock. She vaguely remembered that Melissa was visiting, so it shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise. Still, she hadn't heard anyone approach her. "I thought you'd be in the barn. What are you doing here?"

Melissa looked slightly embarrassed. "I was, uh, checking up on you," she admitted.

Spencer looked at her sister in disbelief. "You were?" she asked.

Melissa nodded. "Yeah... Spence, listen. I'm, um, glad you're safe."

The younger of the two Hastings smiled. "Thanks... Hey, can I sleep in your old room tonight? I don't feel comfortable in mine."

"Of course, Spence."

Spencer sighed in relief. "Thank you."

The eldest Hastings' eyes shifted nervously. "Well... goodnight."

"Goodnight, Melissa." Despite the awkwardness between them and the weariness clawing at her eyes, Spencer couldn't but grin as her sister left. They may not have the closest relationship, but they loved each other. There was no doubt about that. She made her way towards her sister's old room and settled into the large bed, trying to drift off to sleep.

Unfortunately, she was wide awake.

Groaning, Spencer pulled out her phone and dialed a number she knew by heart. _"Hello?"_ came the groggy voice.

The corners of her mouth turned up. "Hey, Toby," she greeted.

 _"Spencer?"_ He sounded wide awake now. _"Are you okay?"_

Spencer hesitated before answering, "Yeah, I guess." _Liar,_ scolded a voice in the back of her head.

 _"You sound tired, sweetheart,"_ observed Toby. _"Why aren't you asleep?"_

"I-I can't sleep," Spencer confessed, her voice cracking slightly.

Toby was silent before speaking once again. _"Do you want to talk?"_ he asked slowly. _"Just until you fall asleep?"_

A single tear rolled down her cheek. "Yeah." She ended up falling asleep with her phone against her chest mid-conversation and still on the line with him and hour later.

 _"Spence?"_ his voice sounded when she just stopped talking. But then Toby heard her light snores and smiled. _"Goodnight, Spencer, I love you."_ With that, he hung up, satisfied that he could get her to rest, if only for a few hours.

"I love you too," muttered Spencer in her sleep.

* * *

 **Hanna**

Hanna continued to rip away her wallpaper, enraged by its very existence. Once she realized she that she couldn't take any more off with her bare hands, she took ahold of the closest thing she could find - a hairbrush - and flung it in a random direction. It ended up clashing against a mirror, shattering it into various different pieces.

 _Stupid Caleb,_ she thought venomously, glancing over at the man laying in her bed. She loved him, she loved him more than almost anything in the world, but he wouldn't leave her alone. It almost felt like she was back in the Dollhouse. At the thought of that horrible place and, by extension, what had transpired there, she grimaced. It wasn't fair to be upset with Caleb, he was only trying to protect her. No, there was only one person who was at fault here. _Stupid Charles. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you._

 _"Really, now? Interesting..."_

Hanna turned around to see a man in front of her. He looked like he could be Jason's twin, only with Ali's blue eyes. "Charles," she breathed. She clutched tightly at her hair. "You're not real." Tears leaked out of her closed eyes. " _You're not real_." She knew that, of course she knew that. It didn't stop her from seeing him, though.

'Charles' chuckled at her. "Maybe not," he admitted. His voice was low, sultry. She hated it. "but that doesn't matter." He approached her, tapping a finger to her forehead. "I'm here. Your mind's convinced you I'm here and that's what's important."

Hanna opened her now-red eyes and glared at him. "I hate you," she hissed.

Charles smirked. "I know." He vanished without another word.

Hanna stared at the spot where he had stood before she promptly fell to her knees, sobbing violently. She was vaguely aware of a strong pair of arms scoop her up and gently lay her in bed. "Shh," a voice soothed. "You're alright."

Hanna clutched the man closer to her. "C-Caleb," she wailed.

"I've got you," Caleb assured her, kissing the top of her head. "I've got you."

There was silence before Hanna choked out, "How long have you been up?"

"Since the mirror broke," answered Caleb. "Han, I'm not letting Charles near you again, you know that, right?"

Hanna shrugged against him. "I guess..." She knew he would certainly try, and that was all she could ask for. "I love you."

"I love you too. And A will have to rip you from my cold, dead hands if he tries to take you away again."

Hanna shuddered. "Don't say that." A would do it too, if what happened to Wilden was anything to go on.

"It's true," Caleb retaliated. "You should get some sleep, do you want to take your pill?"

Hanna shook her head. "Spencer's mom won't let her take any," she explained. "It's not fair that she has to suffer alone, so I'll suffer with her." Spencer was her best friend and she'd gone through so much in the Dollhouse. She deserved to have someone with her. So, Hanna only took it if she really couldn't sleep.

Caleb nodded in understanding. "Alright then, goodnight."

"Night," muttered Hanna against his chest. Somehow, her anger towards him had completely vanished, leaving only love in her heart.

* * *

 **Aria**

Aria frowned, lightly touching her shortened hair. _At least it's better than pink,_ she mused in her head, wincing. As soon as she had gotten the chance, she had made sure to wash out every last bit of dye that A had forced her to put in her hair. All those weeks in the Dollhouse and that's the first thing she wanted to do... She might have laughed if the circumstances weren't so dire.

"Aria..."

She turned to see Ezra standing behind her. "Yes?"

Ezra slowly approached her. "Did... A do this?" he asked.

Aria nodded. "Yeah, he did," she answered, cracking a smile that was no where near reaching her eyes. "It was actually a pretty stupid situation. He told me to dye my hair, I bitched about it, and he cut it short, making me dye it anyway. He said that if I didn't, he'd cut it all off. That's what I get for being stubborn, I guess..."

Ezra was quiet before asking, "A-Are you okay?" At her glare, he held his hands up in defense. "Sorry, dumb question. What I probably should ask is, will you be okay?"

Aria shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "Probably."

Ezra lightly touched her arm. "You know, you don't have to be strong for me," he assured her. "I'm here for you, Aria."

Aria stared at him silently before leaning her head on his shoulder. "I know. Don't worry, the shock hasn't worn off yet. I'll probably be sobbing in a week or two."

That elicited a hollow laugh out of him. "Good to know..." He face turned serious again. "Have you talked about it with the girls?"

"We're not ready, Ezra," she told him. "What A made us do..." Her voice cracked and she shook her head. If they talked about what happen too early, it'd only lead to problems. No, it was better to wait until everyone adjusted to being home. "We're not ready." Ezra nodded, but said nothing. The conversation seemed to end there. Instead, he took her into his arms and simply held her. And that in itself was enough to make her feel about one hundred times better.

* * *

 **Emily**

She knew it was illegal. She knew her mother would kill her if she found out ( _again_ ), but she didn't care. Her hand was firmly around the gun as she continued to shoot at the target. She poured all her anger and frustration into hitting the target. Okay, so maybe she wasn't exactly hitting it, really she was just shooting aimlessly, but it helped. Somewhat.

"Em." She heard this, but just continued to shoot. She didn't know who it was and didn't care. She just wanted to be left alone. "Em!" She continued to ignore the voice. " _Emily_!"

Groaning in irritation, Emily turned around, ripping off her headphones. " _What_?" she hissed.

Alison matched the intensity in her gaze, her own blue eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded. "A shooting range? _Really_ , Em?"

Emily clenched her fist. "How'd you know I was here?" she asked. It was bad enough A was watching her every move...

Ali rolled her eyes. "Your mother," she answered. "Amateur move, Em, you told your mom you were with me. You always tell you friends to cover for you before you disappear like that."

"What do you want, Alison?"

Ali's face softened. "I want to know how you're doing," she revealed.

"Oh, fantastic," muttered Emily sarcastically. "Just great, you know?"

"Whatever happened to my sweet Em?" Ali shook her head. "Listen, you need to stop _this_." She gestured to the gun. "It's not healthy."

"Oh, so now you're lecturing me?" The blond wasn't helping at all. If anything, she was only serving to infuriate her further. "Well, you know what, Ali? It's not healthy to lie as much as you do either."

"Emily-"

"Why are you even here?" Emily interrupted her, bitter jealousy dripping from her lips. "Shouldn't you be off with Lorenzo or something?"

"You're more important."

She laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, right."

Alison grabbed her shoulder gently. "You are."

Emily shoved her hand away. "Whatever." She knew she was being unnecessarily hostile, but Ali hadn't been there. She hadn't been trapped in that awful Dollhouse for weeks and she hadn't been forced to bend to the will of someone else. Besides, Alison was a natural liar. Why should she believe a word that came out of the blonde's mouth?

Alison recoiled, taking her hand away. "Fine," she accepted. "Don't believe me." She carefully took the gun out of the brunette's hands. "Just... stop doing this. Okay?"

Emily hesitated before nodding. "Okay," she agreed.

OoOoOo

 **Okay, a few things. Firstly, Emily's part turned out much better than I expected (missing the emotional trauma thing, but whatever). Aria's part, however, I won't deny getting a little lazy with. That's probably due to the fact that I don't particularly like Aria... In all honesty, though, the show didn't give me much to work with here. Oh well, I hoped you all liked this. Please review!**


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